University of Nevada - Artemisia Yearbook (Reno, NV)

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MORRILL HALL l)i$tory of the University of nevada- continued Arts. The constitutional lawmakers laid a solid foundation for a complete public school system. Nevada, by Act of March 19, 1865, created a Board of Regents consisting of Governor H. G. Blasdel, Secretary of State C. N. Noteware and State Superintendent A. F. White, and the first meeting of the Board was held on November 16, 1865. The Act pro- vided for the location of the University in Washoe county, but did not appro- priate anything for the erection of buildings or the puchaae of a site. None of the income arising from the ninety thousand acre grant was available for these purposes, and the Board therefore called upon the citizens of the western counties to donate enough money for this work. It is recorded that the com- mittee on donations held a meeting in Washoe City late that year, but in the end nothing was done However, if the writer mistakes not, Hon. Theodore Winters at that time offered to donate a liberal amount of land for a University site. Cbc University at eiko In 1874, the Legislature having made provision therefor, a Board of Regents consisting of Hon. P. H. Clayton, Hon. Jerry Schooling and Hon. S. H. Day had the honor of making the fir -t real start toward founding the school intended by the fundamental act by opening a preparatory school at Elko and employing Hon. David R. Sessions, a graduate of Princeton and a very worthy gentleman, as principal of the school. It is a matter of record that the Board authorized the preparation of a course of study for this school, but the register is mi,ssing and we are in the dark as to what it was. It 1875, under the Regency of the HonorableS C. C. Stevenson, W. C. Dovey and Alfred Helm the University was still further improved by the addition of a dormitory building. In 1879 the names of Hon. T. N. Stone, Hon. J. S. Mayhugh and Hon. W. W. Bishop appear as members of the 21 ■ !- -- ' -. »!Mfe-v. ■i-l. If: t : .am STEWART HALL

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Bistory of tbe University of Revada BY ROBERT LEWERS I J-5N 1810, amidst the green mountains of Vermont, a man was .• ' .•t born whose destiny it was to make possible the founding X ' 3 of the universities of agriculture and mechanic arts now ■ ■■ I ' I 3 scattered far and wide throughout our great country, and ' I ' 3 his name — Justin Smith Morrill — will be long revered bv those who know him and his work. Senator Morrill was the author of the Act of Congress of Jvily 2, 1862, which provided for the donation to each State of thirty thousand acres of land for each representative in the national body of lawmakers. By virtue of this Nevada received ninety thousand acres of land, and the money arising from the sale of this land is placed in an irreducible fund known as the University Fund — Ninety Thousand Acre Grant, which now amounts to about $93,000. The principal is invested in United States and Nevada State bonds, and the interest derived from this investment is to be used for the support of the University and is available for instruction only. By the Act of July 4, 1866, Nevada was granted a tract of land equal to seventy-two entire sections for the establishment and main- tenance of a university. The money arising from the sale of these lands is placed in an irreducible fund known as the State Univer- sity Fund, and amounts at present to about $36,000, invested principally in Nevada State 4 per cent bonds. The income arising from both of the investments amounts to $6,500 yearly, the exce. ' s above the 4 per cent being derived from interest on deferred land payments. Probably 80 per cent of all the land has been .sold. As a further evidence of the great value of Senator Morrill ' s services to the universities we have but to chronicle the fact that he was the author of the Act of Congress of August 30, 1890, appro- priating the sum of $15,000 for the year ending July, 1890, for the more complete endowment of each agricultural and mechanical college, said sum to be increased at the rate of $1,000 a year until it reached the maximum of $25,000 per year. The income from this source is limited solely to purposes of instruction. In the Constitutional Convention of 1864 a very considerable portion of the time was de- mi.mm, i.ru.i.i.v., voted to the discussion of educational matters, and especial interest was taken in the establishment of a School of Mines and Mechanical 20

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LINCOLN HALL l l$tcrv of tbe University of nevada— contmud Board iiiid Professor W. C. Dovey, a veteran teacher of Nevada, wa.s principal of the school. The course of study to be pursued was de- fined as such as would enable the student to get a first grade teacher ' s certificate, together with Ixjok- keeping, Latin and music. In Decem- ber of the same year it was ordered that mineralogjs assaying and vSpanish be taught, although it does not appear that these subjects were actually taught until ( )ctober, 1SS2, when Hon. Jules E. (jignoux, a mining engineer and a graduate of Freiburg Universitj ' , was elected to take charge of the Depart- ment of Mining Engineering. At this time Hon. T. N. Stone was Principal, and in 1883 we find Hon. E. W Farrington acting as Principal. The attendance at Elko appears from the best obtainable records to have been as follows: 1874, 12 students; 1875,16; 1876,27; 1877, 30; 1878, 35; 1879, 24; 1880, 25; 1881, 29; 1882, 31; 1883, 30; 1884, 34. The Department of Mining Engineering showed an attendance of nine students in 1882 and ten the next year. On account of the difficulty of securing students at Elko, principally b} ' rea.son of the great distances to be travelled, the work was somewhat slow and discouraging alike to Regents and instructors. But, considering everything, we believe that they are to be congratulated for their persistence in keeping the school open all these years and thus blazing the way for the more successful school of the future, which the Elkoites are still loyally upholding. tbe University at Reno The Legislature having paved the way for the removal of the Universitj ' to a more thickly populated region of the State, and the people of Washoe having expressed a willingness to give a large bonus, it was decided to locate it in Reno. Washoe agreed to pay Elko $20,000 and to donate $5,000 toward the erection of build- ings. In June, 1885, Regents J. H. Rand, L. W. Getchell and H. G. ' 22 THE COTTAGE